


Stay With Me

by Cour104



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst without a happy ending, M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 07:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12405813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cour104/pseuds/Cour104
Summary: The words were scrawled across his wrist. His soulmate mark. The first words his soulmate would say to him. Or that’s what they were supposed to be. Sometimes they were the last. No one knew why some people were born with the last words rather than the first. Keith just thought he had bad luck.As long as Lance could remember he’d known he was going to die for his soulmate...





	Stay With Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Luca404](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luca404/gifts).



The words were scrawled across his wrist. Everyone’s were. They stained his skin, dark ink contrasting his pale arm. His soulmate mark. The first words his soulmate would say to him. Or that’s what they were supposed to be.

Not always. Not always the first words. Sometimes they were the last. It was one in a million. Keith guessed he was just a “one in a million” kind of guy.

One in a million chance he’d end up in space. One in a million chance he’d be part alien, part _Galra_. One in a million chance his soulmate would die. That _**It hurts, I-I’m going to die** _ would be written on his wrist.

No one knew why some people were born with the last words rather than the first. There were theories though. Some thought that those soulmates took time to fall in love, rather than having an instantaneous connection. Others believed that it happened only when one soulmate sacrificed themself for the other. Keith just thought he had bad luck.

The words appeared when he was ten. He had been in class, taking a test, when they showed up. He remembers freezing, his pencil hovering above where it’d been about to bubble in an answer as he read the words. Then reread them. As if reading them again and again would change them. He remembered screaming, his pencil flying across the room as anger filled him. He began scratching at the words in desperation. He wanted them gone. He _needed_ them gone.

Everyone had left him. His mother abandoning him and his father dying. He was passed from home to home, no one willing to put up with him more than a couple of months. His soulmate was supposed to be there for him. He couldn’t leave him to. Couldn’t abandon him. _No._

Keith had been sent to the guidance counselor. She’d told him maybe the words were out of context. She’d told him to stop crying, that everything would be okay. He could see the pity in her eyes. He knew she was lying.

* * *

 

 

As long as Lance could remember he’d known he was going to die for his soulmate.

He was four years old when the words appeared. He’d run over to his sister, excitedly showing her his wrist. He hadn’t understood why her eyes widened, her face going pale. Hadn’t understood why she immediately called out for their mom, who’d rushed over to see what was wrong, bursting into tears as she read Lance’s wrist.

He hadn’t understood until a year later, when he’d started school and began learning how to read. His wrist was the first thing he read, ignoring the Dr. Seuss books his teacher had handed out. He’d been eagerly waiting to know what his wrist said, what his _soulmate_ said. He’d called his teacher over to help him sound out the words and she reluctantly complied, his begging getting the best of her.

His wrist read _**No! Stay with me...Please.**_

To everyone’s surprise, Lance smiled. He’d heard the stories of soulmates getting each other’s last words instead of their first. He knew why it happened. He was going to save them.

* * *

 

 “Okay team, good work!” Shiro’s voice rang out over the comms as the lions took out the last few fighter jets. “But, it’s not over yet. Keith, Lance, you two go with Pidge to infiltrate that base, Hunk and I will stay out here in case any more fighter jets show up.”

“On it!” Keith and Lance yelled in unision, flying down to meet Pidge, who was already using her bayard to carve a hole into the side of the base.

They joined her, ducking through the opening into the hall. They easily took down the few sentries standing guard and Pidge made her way to the control room, ready to hack.

“Can you two go check out the rest of the base while I download this info.? I heard that they were developing a new kind of sentry here- though the sentries we took down were normal sentries. Don’t you think it’s weird that they’d use normal sentries to guard a place where they developed new sentries? Unless they wanted people to believe that those were the new sentires, or that there are no new sentries, or-”

 _“Pidge,”_ Keith cut off in exasperation, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Oh, sorry,” she smiled sheepishly, “but really, can you two go look around? See if you can find anything interesting.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, Pidge. We should stick together. It’d be wrong of us to leave you here defenseless.” Lance replied, looking skeptical.

 _“Defenseless?”_ Pidge glowered, summoning her bayard.

“Woah, woah, no need for that!” Lance held up his arms, “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that you’ll be so busy hacking you're not going to be able to fend anyone off. Also, sometimes you get so absorbed in your work that you're not very observant.”

Pidge sighed because yeah, that was fair.

“This firewall is pretty easy to breech actually, so I won’t need to put all my energy into hacking. Besides, I installed sensors into my Paladin gear that will go off if anyone who's not on team Voltron get’s within a few feet of me. _Now go_. Shiro said we didn’t have that long so I’m not sure if there’ll be time for me to hack _and_ look around.”

 _“Fine,”_ Lance groaned in defeat, “but you better let us know if anything happens.”

“Will do,” she offered a thumbs up before turning back to her work.

“Come on, Mullet,” Lance grabbed Keith’s arm, dragging him down the hall.

“Stop calling me that,” Keith complained, pulling his arm from Lance’s grip. “Do you want to split up, cover more ground?”

 _“Split up?”_ Lance turned to Keith, looking scandalized. “Have you ever seen any horror movie ever? Splitting up is _never_ a good idea! Besides, this place gives me the heebie jeebies.” He shivered, taking a step closer to Keith.

“Fine, scaredy cat,” Keith teased with a smirk.

“I am not scared!” Lance denied, crossing his arms. “I’m just being sensible. If you ever-”

“Shhh-” Keith shushed him, listening closely.

_“Did you just shush me?”_

“Yes because I heard something now _shut up!”_

Lance quieted with a pout, watching as Keith concentrated. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he spun around, looking at nothing.

“Lance watch out!” He cried, shoving Lance out of the way.

Lance fell, watching as a beam shot out of midair, striking Keith in the chest. He cried out, collapsing to the ground with a spasm.

 _“Keith!”_ Lance summoned his bayard, shooting out from where the beam had come from. Sparks flew, a sentry materializing, falling apart as Lance’s shots tore through it. He turned his attention back to Keith, who was sprawled on the ground, his face screwed up in pain.

“H-how did you.. ? It was invisible.” Lance was stunned.

“I-I heard it,” Keith rasped out with a cough.

 _Galra hearing._ Lance pushed the realization aside because right now that didn’t matter. Keith was hurt.

“You saved me,” it was hardly a whisper but Keith heard it, Lance knew he would. He smiled, despite the obvious pain he was in.

“Y-yeah, I guess I did. The Galra do have a thing about self-sacrificing so I guess it’s in my blood,” Keith attempted a joke, but it only made Lance’s worry grow.

“No,” He shook his head, grabbing Keith’s hand. “You aren’t… _You aren’t dying.”_

Lance ignored the charred hole burning through the front of Keith’s gear and the way his breath was becoming more and more labored. He wasn’t dying. _He wasn’t._

“Lance…” Keith’s eyes were sad as he watched Lance shake his head.

“N-no. You’re going to be fine. I-I’m going to go get the others, we’ll get you to a healing pod,” Lance went to get up but Keith reached out, grabbing his arm.

“No!” His voice sounded desperate, filled with more fear than Lance had ever thought Keith was capable of possessing. “Don’t leave me… _Please_.” His eyes were pleading, his face looking desperate.

“O-okay,” Lance agreed, feeling the tears stream down his face. He let go of Keith’s hand, pulling his head into his lap.

Suddenly, it hit him. Keith was going to die.

“No!” He cried out, cradling Keith to his chest.“I-It was supposed to be me! I was supposed to die. I was supposed to- _ugh!”_ He let out a wretched sob, his frame shaking.

It hurt. It hurt _so_ bad. Lance’s chest ached so hard he felt like he couldn’t breath. Like he was the one dying.

“I can’t do this!” He held Keith tighter, his insides screaming. “It hurts! I-I’m going to die.”

Keith reached up at that and Lance blinked down at him. He smiled, reaching up to wipe Lance’s tears. Lance smiled back. Gave Keith one last smile.

Then his hand fell, his face going slack.

Lance screamed, pulling Keith back to his chest. “No no no no _no!_ Keith, please!”

He couldn’t be dead. He _couldn’t_ be. He was his soulmate. His hot-headed teammate. His Mullet, his Samurai, his _Keith._

“Lance?” Lance didn’t notice his teammates had joined them until Hunk placed a hand on his shoulder, his voice soft.

 _“It was supposed to be me!”_ Lance rasped out.

Hunk’s eyes widened with understanding. He was one of the few people who’d seen Lance’s soulmate mark. Lance tore his eyes from Keith, looking up at his teammates. Hunk’s eyes were full of unshed tears and Pidge stood behind him, silently sobbing. Shiro wasn’t there.

“Come on,” Hunk urged, watching Lance with worry. “We need to go.”

“No! W-we can’t leave Keith. We can get him to a healing pod!”

“Lance,” Hunk’s voice was filled with pity. “He’s gone.”

Lance knew this. He knew this the second Keith had said those words. But he didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t want to go back to the castle without him. Without anybody to tease. To challenge. To push him forward, acting as his motivation, a drive pushing him to work harder, to succeed at things he never thought possible. He couldn’t go on, not without Keith.

“H-he saved you, Lance,” Pidge forced out between sobs. “Don’t let him die in vain! W-we need to go before anymore of those sentries find us. P-please. He was like a brother to me… So are you. I can’t- I can’t lose you both!”

She fell to her knees and Hunk scooped her up into his arms, turning to look back at Lance. Lance looked down at Keith one last time, taking in his face. He’d never appreciated it before. It looked so peaceful. So calm. So unkeith-like. Lance closed his eyes, looking away.

“I’m ready,” Lance forced his legs to move, forced himself to continue on.

He’d fight for Keith. He wouldn’t stop until the empire was destroyed. _Victory or death._ If Keith got death then Lance guessed he’d have to be victory.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!
> 
> My Tumblr is @theincredibleshippingqueen, follow if you want :)


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